Hydrazides and hydrazides of carboxylic acids have been used as latent curing agents for epoxy resins (Lee and Neville, "Handbook of Epoxy Resins," McGraw-Hill Book Company, New York, 1967; "Encyclopedia of Polymer Science And Technology," John Wiley & Sons, Inc., Vol. 6, 235 (1967); and U.S. Pat. Nos. 3,014,009; 3,102,043; 3,876,606 and 2,847,395) as well as intermediates in the preparation of a variety of fiber-forming polymers (Campbell et al. J. App. Pol. Sci. 2 (5), 155 (1959); and "Encyclopedia Of Polymer Science And Technology," Polyhydrazides, John Wiley & Sons, Inc., Vol. 11, 169-187 (1969)).
Compounds containing two or more hydrazide groups per molecule are high-melting materials which are only sparingly soluble in all but strongly H-bonding solvents. While their virtual insolubility in for example epoxy resins at ambient temperatures makes it possible to design one-component systems with extended storage stability, it also necessitates long curing times at relatively high temperatures (typically 30 to 60 minutes at 150.degree. to 180.degree. C.) (Lee and Neville, U.S. Pat. No. 3,014,009 and U.S. Pat. No. 2,847,395, above).
The addition of acrylates to mono and dihydrazides and the use of the addition products to cure epoxides (U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,061,845 and 4,101,602) as well as the cyanoethylation of benz- and acethydrazides (Ebnother et al, Helv. 42, 533 (1959)) and the preparation of acetic acid, 1-(2-cyanoethyl)-2-phenyl hydrazide have been reported in the literature ("The Chemistry of Acrylonitrile," 2nd Ed., American Cyanamid Co., New York, 1959, page 195). However, these latter references do not disclose the cyanoethylated products as curing agents for epoxides.